I first started at the Bemidji (Minn.) Pioneer as an intern in the summer of 1996. That would begin six years as a news reporter, sports reporter and copy editor for a small, six-day-per-week daily newspaper in northern Minnesota. I wrote a large range of stories from multiple beats, to features to sports, my favorite being the coverage of the Red Lake Reservation High School basketball team named the Warriors. Here is a collection of my stories from my time at the Pioneer.
Aug. 21, 1999
By Devlyn Brooks
Gov. Jesse Ventura will meet with Minnesota's American Indian tribal leaders Monday for the first time during his young administration.
Steve LeBeau of the governor's communications office said Ventura will host a "small get-together at the governor's mansion that will last a couple of hours."
The affair, which is closed to the media, is scheduled from 3-5 p.m.
All 11 of the state's tribal chairs have been invited, and Lt. Gov. Mae Schunk is also scheduled to attend.
"This is an opportunity (for the tribal chairs) to get to meet the governor and tell him what their issues are," LeBeau said.
Although, there isn't an agenda, LeBeau said three issues that probably will be discussed are treaty issues, tribal/state relations and education.
Local tribal officials have been critical of the governor's lack of contact with the state's tribes, but LeBeau said there isn't any significance to the timing of this meeting.
Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe Chairman Eli Hunt said Friday he is attending the event, and that he has several things to tell the governor.
He said he wants to thank Ventura for sending several staff members to visit Leech Lake Reservation in July and for saving some appropriations earmarked for Indian education that the 1998-99 Legislature wanted to cut.
He also wants to tell the governor about the unmet needs on his reservation and about how important the Indian gaming industry is to Leech Lake.
"Gaming has had positive effect on the welfare and Medicaid rolls," he said.
Hunt said if there is time, he might discuss the tribe's recently revised Tribal Employment Rights Ordinance that strained relations with Cass County and the public earlier this summer.
"I don't imagine we're going to have a lot of time to get into detail," he said.
Red Lake Tribal Chairman Bobby Whitefeather and White Earth Chairman John Buckanaga did not immediately return phone calls Friday.
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